Dipa, who is one of five women gymnasts in the world to have successfully executed the highly difficult Produnova vault, finished fourth to narrowly miss out on a medal at 2016 Rio Olympics.
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Gymnastics is commonly referred to as “the mother of all sports” – but not in India. From being referred to as a mere entertainment in the circus or looking at the sport as a form of dance, Gymnastics never truly got the recognition it deserved in this country. The perception, however, changed after Dipa Karmakar’s historic qualification to Rio Olympics. Her inspiring life journey of overcoming a flat foot along with several other hurdles to become the first-ever female gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics has brought a sea change in the way India perceived gymnastics. It also marked the end of a 52-year wait for Indian Olympic participation in artistic gymnastics.
If her qualification was inspiring, Dipa’s performance in Rio made her an overnight sensation despite not winning a medal. She missed out on a historic medal in the women’s vault competition by a whisker, finishing fourth in the 2016 Games. Karmakar, who is one of five women gymnasts in the world to have successfully executed the highly difficult Produnova vault, was cherished throughout the country, and rightly so! She brought the spotlight to a sport that was rarely taken seriously in a country like India. She not only overcame flat foot and a lack of infrastructure, but she also changed people’s perceptions of gymnastics, which was her life’s greatest achievement.
Born in the city of Agartala in Tripura, Karmakar was just six years old when she first started practicing gymnastics. Since then, Bishweshwar Nandi has been by her side, coaching her day in, day out. At the start of her gymnastics career, Dipa was suffering from a flat foot, a postural deformity considered to be a big detriment for any gymnast. Dipa’s coach made her do extra shifts to overcome it and through extensive training, she was able to develop an arch in her foot.
Even lack of infrastructure did not stop her from achieving her goal as the young Karmakar was determined to reach greater heights. Dipa tasted her first success in 2002, winning gold at the North East Games in Agartala. It was the start of a brighter future for the young gymnast. She was only 14 when she won the Jalpaiguri Junior National Championships in 2007, which happened to be the first of many.
Karmakar, who was competing in the 2011 National Games of India, representing Tripura, won gold medals in the all-around and all four events – floor, vault, balance beam, and uneven bars. Her outstanding performances in the National Games of India drew attention to her, and she was rightfully billed as one of the young athletes to watch out for.
Dipa attained her major stardom with her performance in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Karmakar won a bronze medal in the women’s vault final, thanks largely to her Produnova vault, which has a difficulty value of 7.00. She received an average two-vault score of 14.366, which was enough to secure a third-place finish, thus becoming the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal. She is the second Indian overall to reach this milestone after Ashish Kumar.
Later that year at the Asian Games, she finished fourth in the vault final with a score of 14.200. Karmakar began to build a reputation not only as a vault specialist, but also as someone who could successfully land the most feared vault of all – the Produnova. The Produnova, also known as the “Vault of Death,” is one of the most difficult gymnastics moves to master, involving a handspring followed by two and a half somersaults. It takes a lot of effort to gain sufficient height in order to land the vault as cleanly as possible. Few dare to attempt this vault.
Her outstanding performance at the 2016 Olympic Gymnastics Test Event earned her a place in Rio, making her the first female gymnast from India to qualify for the Games. The historic qualification put a lot of weight on her shoulders. Karmakar was unaffected by the distraction as she was solely focused on winning a medal for her country.
In Rio, Dipa Karmakar made the cut to the vault finals after finishing eighth in the qualifying rounds with 14.850 points after two attempts. Not only she made it to the Olympics, but Dipa also qualified for the vault final. The entire country was elated about her incredible achievement, but it was only job half done.
Karmakar gave it her all again in the finals, competing alongside the gold medal favourite, American superstar Simon Biles. Dipa went for the ‘Tsukahara’ in her first attempt and collected 14.866 points. She went for a difficulty level of 6 and got 8.855 for the execution.
Her second and final effort was the Produnova but had problems with her landing. She scored 15.266 from her Produnova with 8.266 points for execution for a difficulty level of 7. The average of the two attempts gave her 15.066, meaning she missed the bronze by a mere 0.15 points to finish fourth.
Her brave journey came to a heart-breaking conclusion in Rio. Despite returning home without a medal, her astonishing feat was praised by many as Karmakar became a household name. She was honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri. Above all, Dipa Karmakar’s greatest achievement was bringing the spotlight to a sport that did not receive nearly as much attention as other sports in India.
